Notes

1] Composed in Germany late in 1798 and quoted by Dorothy Wordsworth in a letter of December 21 (?). Wordsworth said that it was "intended as a part of a poem on my own life [The Prelude], but struck out as not being wanted there." In an early notebook (1799?) the poem is preceded by a passage addressed to and reproaching his "beloved Friend," named Lucy, for being a ravager of the autumn woods, as the poet remembers himself to have been in boyhood. Back to Line

11] My frugal Dame: Mrs. Tyson in whose cottage Wordsworth and his brothers lived during their years at Hawkshead Grammar School. Back to Line

54] dearest Maiden: presumably, the Lucy addressed in the introduction to the poem which was omitted on publication. Back to Line